Insomnia
by Emories
Summary: Ikuto has a new neighbor...and her name is Amu. As they grow up together, Ikuto can't help developing deeper feelings than friendship for her, despite their five-year age difference.


Ikuto stood on the front lawn of his house, watching as the moving truck lurched to a stop. Two people stepped out from the front of the truck, a reddish-brown haired man and a woman with brown hair that had a tannish tint to it. The back door swung open, revealing a tiny girl curled up into a ball, her back leaning against a wooden crate twice her size.

"Amu-chan," her mom called. "We're here."

"I wanna go home." Amu pouted, her voice muffled from the clothes she buried her face in. She refused to look up from her bent legs.

"Dear," her mom sighed exasperatedly. "This is your, our, new home now."

"Why did we have to go? What 'employment purposes'? I looked it up in the dictionary, but it doesn't say."

"Daddy has a new-"

"Tell Daddy that he should get a new job."

Souko laughed lightly. "My, she's stubborn. She reminds me of my own son. Amu-chan, do you like cookies?" She asked, looking at Amu kindly.

Her head shot up. "Cookies?" Then Amu's eyes narrowed suspiciously, contemplating whether or not to trust this woman that she just met. She pursed her lips, making Ikuto chuckle softly. She resembled a pufferfish, with the chubby cheeks that still had some of the baby fat, and her stuck-out lips. "What kind?"

"Chocolate chip."

Amu's eyes lit up. "Yeah!"

She jumped up and looked at Souko expectantly, leaving her mother to shake her head while smiling.

And that was how Ikuto ended up with a little girl clutching his hand, whining for cookies. He couldn't help but notice how the girl's hand was so tiny, yet soft and warm. At school, the teacher didn't make them hold hands in line anymore. Ikuto recalled how he used to be disgusted by how they were forced to hold their line partner's hands, which for him, was often one of the opposite gender. But this was different...in a nice way.

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><p>Ikuto watched the girl sitting across the table from him nibble on the chocolate chip cookie. The girl was...cute, in the little kid kind of way. She had bubblegum pink hair, her bangs in two messy twin tails <strong>(AN: Also called pigtails)**, and big honey-colored eyes. She swung her legs back and forth as she sat on the edge of the chair, like she had a bit too much sugar to eat.

Suddenly, she looked up. "How old are you?" She asked curiously, tilting her head slightly.

"Ten," he answered simply, slightly distracted by the TV blaring with a new cartoon that had recently been released.

Her eyes widened. "You're old! I'm only five, but I'm almost six!" She said excitedly.

Apparently, she was his "new neighbor", or at least that was what his mom called it.

"Hey, what's your name again?" He questioned her.

"Hinamori Amu." Amu replied proudly. "My mommy said that-"

"IKUTO!" A high-pitched voice called.

A girl bolted into the room, her feet producing surprisingly large stomps for a girl. "Mommy says-who's she?" She pointed at Amu, her eyes narrowed. "You have...a _g-girlfriend_?"

"Utau," Ikuto sighed, as Amu had a look on her face that said _Whaaat?_. "No, she's the new neighbor, Amu."

"Oh. Hi." Utau greeted Amu, unsure about her general opinion of this new girl.

"Hi, Utau." She answered happily, naive to the fact that Utau was looking at her critically. "Your mommy makes good cookies. I remember I went to my friend's house, but her mommy gave me these cookies with_ jelly_ on top!" Amu jabbered. Ikuto was wondering how to get her to shut up. She paused. "I didn't like it. It tasted funny."

"Amu-chan," she heard her mom call. "It's time to go home."

"OKAY!" She answered. Amu turned to Ikuto. "I have to go now. Bye bye!"

She dashed out of the house, heading to the house next door, leaving Ikuto momentarily dazed about how that girl managed to disappear in less than three seconds.

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><p>Amu turned the cap of the bottle of milk, opening it. About the only thing she liked about her new room was that it had a balcony. She opened the glass sliding door and stepped outside, drinking the milk simultaneously. Suddenly, she could hear a song being played. Amu turned around, seeing that through the window directly across from the balcony was Ikuto...playing a violin?<p>

She watched attentively, leaning across the balcony yearning to hear more of the music as he strung the rod across the strings on the violin. Suddenly, the music stopped. Amu looked up and saw Ikuto looking curiously at her. She felt her face turn red as she dashed back into her room, delving into the blankets of her familiar bed.

Right before Amu succumbed to the sleep forcing her eyelids to close, she could've sworn that she heard very soft laughter from the boy next door.

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><p><strong>AN:**

**Okayy, this is my pretty crappy intro. For all of you people out there who don't know, insomnia means 'inability to sleep'. Maybe you'll get what I mean later...**

**Ha, the song, Insomnia is pretty good :)**

**Plz review, tell me what you think! :D **

**I promise that the next chapter will be longer ^-^**


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